Where I live it’s getting darker, colder and snowier—just the setting for curling up with a book and a hot drink. The brains behind the advertisements for Carte Noire (an instant coffee, two words which should never exist in the same sentence) think so too. They’ve got Dominic West, Greg Wise and Dan Stevens to sit and read book extracts of ten to fifteen minutes in length. If you can ignore the occasional soft-focus shots of coffee mugs and focus on a) the wonderful prose and b) the lovely men reading them, I think you’ll enjoy these little videos. I know I did. Here is the link; I recommend Dominic West’s reading of a certain infamous scene from Pride and Prejudice in particular.

But, all this industriousness aside, I promised a finished knit, so here is my version of Kelmscott.

Kelmscott by Carol Sunday
I used 5.5 balls of Cascade 220 in Silver Gray and 4.5mm needles.
My Ravelry project page

This is a perfect cardigan. I saw it in the Winter 2009 issue of Twist Collective and knew I had to make it as soon as possible. I knew I should consider the matter sanely, and did so for about five seconds before buying the pattern and moving swiftly on to yarn selection. The pattern calls for a light worsted weight angora/merino yarn, but it’s not available in the UK and I find angora too hot and ticklish. I swatched and settled for an old stalwart: Cascade 220, which I knew would make a warm, cosy garment that would also last.

I lengthened the body and sleeves to suit my longer torso, and added an extra button. I also worked a simple crocheted buttonband instead of the loops in the pattern as written (I tried them, but they gaped too much, and my covered buttons looked “blobular” according to a sibling). The lace on the collar and fronts involves patterning on both sides, which requires concentration, but since much of the rest is reverse stocking stitch, there was plenty of mindless knitting.

The result is everything I’d hoped for: warm and cosy but elegant and stylish. It’s great for the season, especially the chilly evenings we’ve been having, and I have no problem with outfit selection because I don’t really want to wear anything else! It’s a worthy addition to my newly minimised wardrobe.

It’s official: I love spinning. The great thing about using a spindle is that it’s so portable; it takes up hardly any space so it’s okay to stop right in the middle of something, shove it in a bag, and forget about it for a while. If I had a wheel… but let’s not go there. I once thought I would never spin, so I won’t be making any resolutions about not-owning-a-wheel lest I be proved completely wrong again.

The purple-grey merino (from The Thylacine, in the Kinvarra Estate colourway) above is half spun up, and I’ve been making little doll-sized jumpers with the resulting yarn (photos soon). I may use the other half for something for myself, but we’ll wait and see.

At the moment, I’m spinning another braid of fibre from the November instalment of The Thylacine’s fibre club. (My birthday was a few weeks ago and I decided it would make an ideal present, since the gift goes on for several months and there’s an element of surprise in the type of fibre and the colours.) It’s Wensleydale, which is a lustrous long-stapled wool with some similarities to mohair. The browns, oranges, golds and dull grey-blue remind me strongly of autumn leaves against autumn skies – or at least, the autumn skies here in England! I’m still not quite used to the early evenings and chilly weather, although they’re a knitter’s delight.

I hardly know what I’ll make with it eventually, but then that’s not really the point, is it?

Other than that, if you have a few minutes to spare today I’d highly recommend watching the video of Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collection, entitled “Plato’s Atlantis” (and I love that this is meant to be “ready to wear”! Ha!). It’s beautiful, bizarre, weird, terrifying (in that I was scared for the models in those fantastic shoes) and wonderfully inspirational. There are cameras on robotic arms, too – what’s not to like?

I tend to keep a close eye on the world of the catwalk, and while there are many things to dislike about that world, there are some designers who make outfits that are more art than clothing. I hope we never lose that. McQueen is among my favourites, but I’d put Gareth Pugh, John Galliano and Christian Lacroix at the top of the list.

Witness the results (both are works in progress, but both are well on the way towards completion!):

Aeolian shawlette, just pinned out to dry.

Some of my handspun being knitted into a doll-sized cardigan.

I have pattern writing that I’ve been putting off by the simple expedient of designing more knitwear, some of which is going well (we will not speak of the hat that I have now started five times). I’m enthusiastic about using beads, and I’m making a simple yoked cardigan with what I hope will be a scattered necklace effect around the collar.

The yarn is Wensleydale Longwool which I bought at iKnit some while ago. I’ve found it hard to match to a pattern, and this is my third and happiest attempt. The yarn has a definite halo, which when combined with the dark grey colour, means that it really doesn’t look at its best in a complicated pattern. I’m keeping it very simple, therefore, with some neat twisted ribbing and smooth stocking stitch. The beads will do all the talking. (I hope. I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up having to do some unravelling, given my recent track record…)

I once read that buying a book is like a promise to yourself: a promise of making the time to one day sit down and read it. I think the same goes for crafting materials, don’t you? In that spirit, I bought several hundred grams of grey merino top a while ago, and I am really looking forward to the day when I sit down, open the bag, pull off a big chunk and start to spin it.

I believe the correct expression is OM NOM NOM NOM.

The above image is of a rather wet cotton jumper, knitted from a 1940s pattern contained in the excellent book, A Stitch In Time, Vol 1. I offer it up as proof of my continued existence, as things have been rather quiet around here lately. I hope to get back up to speed soon!

I’m going through the initial stages of designing something. As is evidenced by the photos above, this involves trying out stitch patterns, reading up on good design practice, and a fair bit of maths. The process is slightly hampered by the fact that I’m resting a sore arm and am therefore not doing any knitting, but I can at least crunch some numbers while I’m waiting. My graph paper notebook is my best friend. (I have three, and have managed to start them all, which is fairly normal for me. I have a slight notebook obsession.)

No knitting means more reading, because I’ve not yet worked out how to read and knit at the same time – unless it’s an ebook. Theoretically, I am being firm with myself as regards books. No new books will pass the threshold until I have read and/or gotten rid of some (preferably both!). I’ve gathered together a pile of historical non-fiction with the intent of blitzing through it in a few months, although I don’t think I’ll be donating any of these. (My other slight obsessions are the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the books shown below are, thus far, very good indeed.)

At the moment I’m reading Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs, which is, apart from the lengthy introduction, entirely in the lady’s own words. She wrote and sold the memoirs in her middle age when in need of money. Before doing so she wrote to all her lovers, offering to refrain from mentioning them if they’d pay her £200, to which the Duke of Wellington famously replied “Publish and be damned!”. The book must, by necessity, be read with a rather large pinch of salt, but it’s an entertaining and fascinating insight into the everyday (and not-so-everyday!) goings-on of Regency life.

On that note, I have to confess to not wearing some of my older projects as much as I thought I would. It’s “eyes bigger than belly” syndrome, I suppose: one sees something and decides one must have it, but doesn’t really think hard enough about yarn/pattern choice and although the finished item is fine, it gets relegated to the back of the drawer for eternity. I hate waste and I’m trying to be very conscious about what will genuinely suit me, and what is just a case of “ooh! Pretty!”. With that in mind, I have unravelled Garland, having very nearly finished it some weeks ago. I tried it on once and realised I’d made an error in judgement. No matter, though! I’ve ditched it without any regrets and am working on the Somerset cardigan from Neoknits, albeit with a few little modifications (I’m making it a bit longer, for starters – oh, and in a different weight of yarn, and with longer sleeves! In for a penny…).

I seem to be unable to keep from modifying patterns these days, and so it may seem like a natural progression that I’m dipping my toes into the pool (ocean?) that is designing. I posted a little preview of this just before Christmas, but now I’ve written up the pattern and can share it with everyone without fear of spoiling the recipient.

Change-ringing scarf: Plain Bob Minor

This is a cabled scarf (a very cabled scarf!) which depicts the change-ringing method known as Plain Bob Minor. I will rely upon wikipedia to explain change-ringing better than I ever could:

Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called “changes”.

These methods are often presented in the form of charts (you can see the chart for Plain Bob Minor here) which just beg to be turned into cable patterns. The scarf uses DK weight (or greater) yarn and for mine, which ended up as 66″ long, I used about 500 yards.

The pattern is free, and you can either go and see it on Ravelry if you have an account, or you can use the above button to download the PDF, which includes both charted and written instructions.

I’m already planning my next design, which will be a little more involved, in that so far it seems to be a cardigan, but without any cables (bliss!). I am swatching and reading Sweater Design in Plain English while waiting for some needles to arrive. It’s a good life.

Tangled Yoke cardigan

I wear this all the time. It’s hard-wearing and very warm – the yarn is not perfectly soft and slightly tickles bare arms, but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. The pattern was simple with just a few fiddly moments at the yoke. If I made it again I’d change the garter rib (which isn’t at all stretchy) to a plain 2×2 rib.
Pattern: Tangled Yoke cardigan by Eunny Jang (my Ravelry project page)
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed #159 Carbon, 7 balls
Needles: 2mm, 3.5mm and 3.75mm

Rambling Rose cardigan

This pattern comes in two sizes, 30″ and 43″. I am neither. To make it fit I had to alter the scallops at the bottom, adding stitches to the pattern repeat (in the garter stitch sections) to make it up to the required amount. I knit it as normal after that, but obviously with a higher stitch count and wider reverse-stockinette sections. I also added width to the sleeves. It was a great success and is perfect for autumn or spring weather. The yarn is as smooth and soft as you could wish, but would probably sag if you were not careful to dry/store the garment flat.
Pattern: Rambling Rose by Laura Zukaite, Interweave Knits Winter 2006 (my Ravelry project page)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay #07, just over 8 balls
Needles: 4mm

Poinsettia

Superbly soft, warm yarn. This neck warmer is as cosy as any scarf, but without the annoying bulk that makes my winter coat fit strangely. I chose this pattern because unlike many cowls, it fans out over the neck to cover the shoulders a little. It is snug and lovely. The lace is subtle and straightforward. I would make it again like a shot.
Pattern: Poinsettia by Anne Hanson (my Ravelry project page)
Yarn: ColourMart Cashmere/Wool 10/28NM Heavy DK Weight in “Scots Pine”, less than half a cone
Needles: 3.75mm